Impact
by Nonakani
Summary: ATLAS and P-body set out beyond Aperture, life rebuilds itself, and a catastrophe speeds toward earth. Post-Portal 2, microchapters of 500 words.
1. Prologue

_(A/N: I'm using my word processor's word counter to determine when I hit 500 words exactly - ff. net seems to add extra words out of nowhere, or maybe counts hyphenated words differently, so apologies for the discrepancy.)_

**1. Prologue**

Sunlight. That was sunlight, right? She remembered it faintly, knew its name and how it felt, but it pressed against her skin like a thousand pinpricks.

Chell lowered her arm, which she had shielded her eyes with, and stood still, a statue before a field of grain. The closest color she could recall was the yellow of some ridged panels she had been enclosed with once, turret-fire red and sharp against it; the sky, a portal blue, was littered with clouds and breathtakingly endless.

She fell to her knees, pavement skidding against them. It was warm, even through her jumpsuit's leggings. A breeze shook the field, which spread to the horizon, and Chell's hair circled around her ears, brushing against her chin as if to hold up her head.

Chell bounded in to the field, fell in to it, reveled in its texture. She stumbled as she stood, reeling. There was dirt, too – dirt! Not mold, or moss, but soil, still clinging to the spaces between her fingers. The soil was smeared against her leggings, and she kicked up more soil and fallen bits of wheat as the backs of her Long Fall Boots dug in to the ground. She smiled, and spun once, twice, three times before falling again, laughing, this time on her back.

The grain and sky circled around her, her head still spinning with gleeful dizziness. Dirt and leaves brushed against her shoulders as she shifted her arms and stared. Sunlight. Soil. The sky. It was all before her, like suddenly recalling a vague memory.

A flock of birds, V-shaped, flew in the opposite direction of the clouds, and though she had seen one or two in the facility it still took her a moment to recall their names. She watched as they vanished behind the clouds, breathing as hard and deep as she could – the air was crisp, and cool.

She waited until the clouds had flown from one end of the sky to the other before finally standing, brushing a thin layer of dirt from her back. Though her euphoria had not yet faded, the sky was already dimming.

Chell walked toward the shed she had exited from, but only for the Companion Cube – it sat where she left it, after being thrown from the shed behind her.

The fresh air had blown away much of its charred odor, and Chell lifted it, cradling it against her chest. It was lighter than she remembered, though its shape had long since been etched in to her memory. The hearts on each side of the Companion Cube were barely visible beneath an ashen layer of grime, and Chell resolved to eventually find a way to clean it. After all, she had all the time in the world.

There was sky and soil here; she was free.

She stepped again in to the field, treading more carefully now so as to not disturb the wheat any further. She walked away from the shed without once looking back.


	2. A Place with Sunlight

**2. A Place with Sunlight**

"Consider this an experiment in quantum observation - I'm setting you loose to do one simple thing, and we'll see if you can accomplish it without me watching. Then again, I'll be listening, so maybe that's not entirely accurate."

The Cooperative Testing Initiative could still almost hear their mistress's words as they were reassembled, portal guns placed in their hands before they could even orient themselves. They stepped out of their respective pods, turned to each other, and tentatively waved.

ATLAS, P-body noticed, had a pack slung over its back. ATLAS reached back and prodded at the thick plastic container, and adjusted the strap across its shoulder that held the box in place. The container tapped against the back of ATLAS's core as the two robots walked, a third rhythm in time with their steps.

The elevator was just wide enough for the two of them, if they pressed shoulder to shoulder and didn't move as the door closed. The stood completely still, optics tracking the passing floors through the elevator's transparent front as layer after layer of the facility flew by. It grew lighter as they ascended – though the facility was almost entirely restored, loose panels and tiny gaps still let light from the surface bleed through.

The elevator came to a stop before opening with only the light hiss of rubber on glass. P-Body exited first, stepping lightly around ATLAS, while ATLAS bound out of the elevator soon after.

The door to the surface opened immediately, creaking with disuse.

It took a moment for the robots' optics to adjust to the sudden change in lighting. Neither moved to shield their eyes, but they were blinded for a moment by how bright it was outside.

They'd never been outside before – outside the testing tracks, yes, but never in a place so flooded with sunlight. Once they could see properly, ATLAS looked toward P-body, and the two exchanged an excited chirp before stepping off the concrete step that held up their exit.

A field of brown-yellow stalks surrounded the shed that led to the facility, stretching as far as their optics could see. ATLAS knelt down and placed its portal gun in the dirt, inches from the first yellowing plant, and slowly peeled it apart with as delicate a grip as it could manage. The plant crumbled far more easily than it expected, the top of the stalk crushed to dust.

P-body, meanwhile, looked up to the sky: it was as blue as ATLAS's optic, so focused on dissecting the plants. While looking from one end of the sky to the other, P-body looked back at the shed, and the single security camera mounted on its front. It was focused on the two robots, shifting and dilating with their movement.

P-body tapped ATLAS with its foot, and it stood up, dejected. It picked up its portal gun, smearing the handle of the device with dirt, and the two robots shared glances again before walking forward, leaving the shed behind them.


	3. The Beacon

3. The Beacon

The robots reached the end of the field, and stopped walking.

They only had the shade of the sky as an indicator of how much time had passed: the sky was black by the time they stepped from soil to grass, lightly swaying. The transition from yellow and brown to green was sudden, and both robots had briefly hesitated before moving from one field to the other.

Beyond the grass was a mass of trees, just visible in the distance.

P-body trilled, making a sweeping motion with its arms, hands still grasping its portal gun. The noise had no exact meaning – the two robots had never been given the ability to speak outright - but they'd always been able to get by on merely gestures, on vocal tones and pantomime. They'd solved tests and leapt across chasms with less.

ATLAS made a confirmatory chirp, and tried to reach for the clasp on the container strapped to its back. It struggled for a minute, optic lenses nearly shut in concentration, before P-body moved forward and opened the case itself.

Inside were several rows of disc-topped beacons, like tiny satellite receivers. They were multi-pronged at various angles, and P-body removed a hand from its portal gun to lift one from out of the container, removing it from the foam mold that had kept it in place, and raised it up as gently as it could.

Only a few inches away from its optic, P-body could see every detail on the device, every seam where metal was folded over metal and grafted in to place, each precision cut. P-body crouched down and ATLAS leaned in to look as well – the two's optics flickered with curiosity over the tiniest, most important piece of their assignment.

They'd never seen anything quite like it, but they knew what their orders were and vaguely what to do with the object.

ATLAS placed down its portal gun again – the device only getting filthier – and took the beacon from P-Body. Not quite sure what to do, it fiddled around with the prongs on the device, moving them about until, with a tiny beep, a rod, just slightly thinner than the main body of the beacon itself, extended from the device's base. ATLAS looked left and right for a suitable spot, and then drove the beacon in to the ground.

Blades of grass brushed up against the beacon, the disc at the top minutely adjusting itself until it faced perfectly upward. A red light at the disc's center began to pulse, noiselessly.

ATLAS grabbed its portal gun and readjusted its grip around the device, and the two robots stood. P-Body looked briefly at the beacons left in the container before snapping it shut, letting out a light, accomplished chirp while ATLAS readjusted the case's strap.

Squinting again, ATLAS tapped the beacon with its foot, as if to kick it over; it stood, unharmed by the action, and ATLAS nodded, satisfied. Again, the robots set off in the direction opposite Aperture.


	4. Human Beings

**4. Human Beings**

ATLAS and P-body had seen human beings before, within the walls of Aperture Laboratories: they could still perfectly recall the walls of human in cryogenic storage and the single, orange-clad test subject, standing with quiet dignity.

Two fields away from the facility, partway in to a forest, and four beacons less than when they began, neither robot had expected a tiny human being to stumble out of the bushes. It was the smallest they'd ever seen: it came up to ATLAS's optic, at most, and the robots made no effort to run or even hide themselves. The human stared, and ATLAS and P-body stared back.

The human being took one step back, then another, and then reversed direction and ran back in to the trees.

ATLAS and P-body turned to each other, staring in to their opposite's optic briefly, and then followed behind the frantic human. They tried their best to keep their distance, despite their brisk pace; neither robot knew how well human beings could hear, and they didn't particularly want to find out.

The human was surprisingly ungainly, as well – maybe humans gained athleticism along with their size?

The trees there were overgrown, and reminded P-Body of some of the higher floors of the facility before they were restored. P-body stepped carefully around branches, some nearly as thick as its elongated core, while ATLAS went forward more recklessly, jumping over exposed roots and occasionally looking back at P-body with a chirp of excitement.

It wasn't long before the human ran in to a clearing of short grass and thatched-roof houses. P-body had to grab the container on ATLAS's back to keep the robot from running out of the trees right behind it. The hid on the fringes of the forest as the tiny human ran in to one of the houses.

They waited, peeking out from behind the fringe of the clearing. From the edge of the forest, they could see the entirety of the human settlement, a mere seven structures.

They waited, unmoving, and the tiny human exited the house with a much larger, heavily built human behind it. The larger human stared long and hard at the forest, but the foliage was heavy enough that neither robot was seen. ATLAS and P-body, however, stared back through the bushes, taking in the humans and their settlement with wide optics.

Through holes in the other houses, they saw more humans of many shapes and sizes, some looking worriedly outside.

The large human smiled, whispering, and led the small human back in to the house, the others losing interest. But, overtaken by curiosity, the robots still stared. Then, they turned to each other.

As soon as the thought of staying there longer crossed their minds, they expected to hear their mistress's ire echo through their heads. But there was no reprimand, no violent disassembly, no reawakening in the facility in a room of turrets or above pit of spikes.

Observing the settlement for just a little while wouldn't hurt.


	5. The First Night

**5. The First Night**

Their first night camping outside of the human settlement, it poured.

ATLAS and P-body squeezed together under one of the larger trees, rain sliding down its leaves and the roofs of the human settlement before them. The tree barely provided enough shelter for the two of them, the rain falling around them in a curtain.

ATLAS stuck out a hand, and flinched as the first raindrop hit. But the water slid harmlessly down its finger, and ATLAS's tense expression softened.

Together, the robots placed down their portal guns and stepped out in to the clearing.

The human settlement was nearly silent except for the falling rain. It bounced off the robots at odd angles, sliding down their wide-open optics, and when they looked to the sky they could see every individual drop splayed around them. Their feet sank in to the earth as they walked slowly and deliberately, arms rigid and optics constantly seeking every dark corner.

Just behind ATLAS, P-body stepped in to a puddle, the splash nearly silent underneath the rain, but still startling. Both robots froze in place.

But no humans stepped out of their homes, and no houses stirred with light. ATLAS chirped experimentally, and when it was greeted only with silence ATLAS chirped yet again, motioning to the puddle.

P-body raised and lowered its leg, splashing again. It was a larger splash this time, spraying water on to ATLAS's face. ATLAS leaned down and drove a fist in to the puddle, splashing P-body back.

The two robots ran circles around each other, laughing and splashing, both by this point completely soaked. Whether their bodies could even handle this much water, or if the human beings would hear them and awaken, never once crossed their minds. They fled around buildings, hiding and seeking and exchanging gleeful trills from across the row of houses, their footprints leaving spiraling, playful trails.

As they passed them, they looked inside the human's homes, peeking through pane-less windows at the settlement's sleeping residents. Their chests rose and fell, they turned and squirmed and spoke in their sleep.

They stopped playing when the rain stopped, the sky lightening to deep blue instead of black and the air quiet enough to hear every piston in their bodies move. They met up in the middle of the settlement, and looked once more to the houses around them. They were sturdy buildings, despite the rain, and the robots wondered how they were built and what they were built with. They wondered how these humans lived where they did, and why-

A light flicked on. Startled, ATLAS and P-body ran back in to the forest, grabbing their portal guns and running deep enough in to the trees that they could hardly see the rest of the settlement light up.

And though they spent the entire day shaking water out of every space in their bodies, though the humans in the settlement looked with worry at the robots' deep footprints in the mud, ATLAS and P-body were content.


End file.
